Agitated locals vandalised the offices of the Chouhali upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and the election officer over the sudden deferral of the election for the upazila’s Khas Pukuria Union Parishad in Sirajganj yesterday.
Witnesses said the election for the Uniona Parishad had been deferred for 12 years due to a court ruling on it, but the Election Commission had recently announced the schedule for holding the election.
As per the schedule, the election was to be held on Monday. All the preparations were in place, but the locals later learned that the election had been postponed again, they said. Enraged at the deferral, early in the morning yesterday, the locals brought out a procession and reached the upazila town. They then vandalised the offices of the upazila nirbahi officer and election officer, said the witnesses.
Chouhali Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Abdullah said they had all the preparations in place for the elections to be held. “But we had to defer it upon a High Court order at 11pm (Sunday),” he explained.
The deferral order followed a petition filed by current Union Parishad Chairman Mizanur Rahman, who was also the BNP-backed candidate in the postponed election.
